Missing: Gavin Smith, 57, a top 20th Century Fox executive, vanished without a trace six weeks ago

Los Angeles homicide detectives believe that the 20th Century Fox executive who went missing six weeks ago may have been murdered by a jealous boyfriend of one of his many lovers.

Gavin Smith, the muscular, 57-year-old former basketball player for UCLA, had recently separated from his wife, Lisa, the mother of his three children.

‘He had several affairs,’ a source close to the investigation told The Daily. ‘The guy was a player. He was a big flirt. He was a ladies’ man.’

Smith worked out of a Fox office in Calabasas, California, handling the distribution of movies in Oklahoma and Texas.

On May 1, the 57-year-old disappeared along with his black 2000 Mercedes E420 after leaving the house of a friend in Oak Park, where he was ‘couch surfing.’

He was reported missing the following day when he failed to pick up his son to take him to school.

‘It’s hard for a six-foot-six guy to go missing. It’s even harder for a car to disappear,’ a law enforcement source said. ‘That’s why they think it is murder.’

His distraught family launched a
media campaign, hoping that someone would come forward
with news of his whereabouts.

Last Friday, Sheriff’s detectives accompanied by a SWAT team and armed with a search warrant raided a house in the San Fernando Valley and left after five hours with boxes, a computer and a black Audi SUV.

The house on the 8600 block of Santa Susana Place belongs to John and Chandrika Creech, whose lawyer, Daniel Teola, told the Los Angeles Times it was the second time this month that deputies had searched the premises.

Around the time of the search, Smith's wife and three sons announced that a $20,000 reward is being offered for information on his whereabouts.

Two weeks prior, Smith was spotted having dinner in California with a woman, it was claimed.

A
fellow diner at Taco Temple in Morro Bay, David Brill said he saw the
missing exec on May 7 in the restaurant but didn't realise who it was
until the next day.

He
said: 'I noticed on the Yahoo main page that there was a news link to a
missing Hollywood executive,' Brill told news station NBC LA.

'I happened to click on the link, saw the photo, and said, "Oh boy, that's the guy I saw in the restaurant the previous night".'

SWAT cars arrive at a home in a San Fernando Valley cul-de-sac

A woman and her two children emerged from within the house on the 8600 block of Santa Susana Place, and neighbours confirmed that a family of four live there

A waitress at the restaurant confirmed Brill's account saying she served the quiet couple who said they were from 'down south'.

Sergent John O’Brien said police have received hundreds of calls about
Smith since his disappearance, but the leads were 'obviously not him'.

The
married father of three
was last seen leaving a friend's house after returning from a business
trip.

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'He was still
watching TV downstairs when our friend went to bed, and he was going to
be going up to bed shortly,' Lisa Smith told ABC News.

He
was spotted driving away from the friend's home in Oak Park, north of
Los Angeles at around 10pm in his black Mercedes sedan.

Family: Gavin Smith with his wife Lisa who is desperately searching for him since his disappearance more than a month ago

Family man: Gavin Smith (left) and wife Lisa with their three sons Dlyan, Evan and Austin

The
first alarm bells went off when he failed to pick up his youngest son
to drive him to school on Wednesday morning, and then never went to work
or call the office that same day- two things that his wife said had
never happened before in the past 21 years.

Gavin Smith, 57, a top 20th Century Fox executive was spotted with a woman in California a week after he went missing

At the time, Mrs Smith was taking care of her mother who has cancer.

In an interview with ABC, Mrs Smith made an impassioned plea, hoping that he may be watching.

'We want you to come home, baby, we love you! Our world is not right without you! Be safe,' she said, fighting back tears.

Family
members have since been unable to 'ping' the missing man's cellphone,
which appears to be off and that his credit cards have not been used
since Tuesday night.

'We're
just doing our best to get as many people looking as possible,' his son
Evan Smith, a forward for the University of Southern California
basketball team, said in an interview.

'We're trying to find my dad. We need our father.'

Athleticism runs in the family, as Mr Smith gained notoriety in Los Angeles for being a part of UCLA's 1975 national championship basketball team under legendary coach John Wooden.

Evan said that friends first became concerned when his father failed to turn up at the film studio, a job he loves.

'My dad's a good guy, a very responsible man, and it all really took hold for us when he didn't show up for work,' he said.

Earlier glories: In his youth, Mr Smith dabbled in acting (left) and was a member of the UCLA national championship basketball team (right)

Mr Smith has worked as a film distribution executive at the Calabasas-based company for nearly 18 years.

'We are extremely worried about our friend and colleague Gavin Smith and are actively doing what we can to assist the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in their search for him,' Chris Aronson, vice president of domestic distribution for Fox, said in a statement.

Police have said that Gavin Smith, who stands tall at 6 foot 6 inches, was last seen wearing purple pants and black and gray shoes and has gray hair and has a goatee.

Never giving up: Mr Smith's son Evan has made repeated pleas for his father to come home

Last seen: Mr Smith's black Mercedes was spotted driving away from Oak Park in California where he had been visiting a long-time female friend

His sons take the fact that Mr Smith was wearing one of their pairs of purple workout pants as a sign that he was clearly not planning on meeting anyone.

'That's what he was wearing, you know? It doesn't sound like he was going anywhere,' Evan said.